Genealogy Chat

Someone kindly pointed me to the right section of the National Archives site in referance to my query about obtaining records about a policeman ancestor. But I don't have the foggiest which record to order. I've been browsing the Penson's catalog but all I know is the guys name was Thomas Vincent Scully and that he was listed as a copper on the 1891 census but not before or after. Is it possible to find service records? He may not have recieved a pension if he was a copper for less than 10 years. Could really use some solid help figuring out what record I should order ~ Ta ~ Helen

Hi Helen You don't say which force. If its the Metropolitan Force this may be of some help, but you may have to call at Kew or get some other person to call for you. Regards Ericx Kew has an index to officers joining the Metropolitan Police 1830-1933. It's on microfilm and the index will give you the officer's warrant number. Bookcases 28-31 have a list marked MEPO 4 in the catalogue references. In the left-hand column find numbers 333-338. In these volumes find the range of years in which your officer joined the service and note the number in the left-hand column, this is the microfilm number. It will be something like MEP 4/334. Go to the locations table to find instructions to get your film. Load the film onto the reader and search for your officer. The number next to his name is his warrant number. Now find MPO 4 list in bookcases 28-31. Go to numbers 352-360 in left-hand column to find attestation ledger, and numbers 361-477 to find the certificate of service. The range of warrant numbers including the one you want will be the document you want. The City of London Police: Registers listing every member of the force since warrant numbers were introduced on 9 April 1832 together with personal files on 95% of officers who have served since that date have been transferred from the City of London Police Records Office to the Corporation of London Record Office, PO Box 270, Guildhall, London, EC2P 2EJ (Tel: 020 7332 1251).

I had a City policeman to research and CLRO was very helpful - even pointing me to Surrey RO for his earlier service - and they were very helpful, too - giving me info to contact the Surrey Police Museum at Guildford - also very helpful. Christine

You could try the Black Sheep index (find it by googling). It has lists of papers, both large and small, relating to (amongst other things) people who served in the police. I got a very short entry from the Police Review about the death of a GG uncle. It was in there because he had contributed to the Police pensions. If anyone wants a summary of the history of early police pensions let me know. I found a book in the library from which I made notes. If your ancestor was only in the Police for a few years there may be no records. Anne

Helen I have several metropolitan police officers in my family tree. You WON'T find the specific record in the catalogue. To find records you need to get his warrant number. There used to be an online site that did this, but it doesn't appear to be working any more - I've e-mailed the chap who runs it but had no reply. So you need to go to Kew and look up his warrant number in the index of joiners on microfilm. His warrant number will let you locate which book his service record is in. The records I found for my lot (dates 1890-1905ish) give a physical description, date of joining, birthdate and place, last employment, whether previous public service. It then tells you which division(s) and dates of any changes to different divisions, promotions, etc. If the chap stayed until pensioned, you can get pension records, which give details of physical description, final salary, address, address to which pension should be paid etc. There's a lot of info - but I think you will need to go to Kew to access it. The catalogue is just a guide to the types of records. nell